Sunday, February 12, 2017

Politics and Reality radio: Trump’s Getting Rolled by Foreigners; Red Flags for Authoritarianism; Would a General Strike Work?

with Joshua Holland

This week, we begin with a look at Donald Trump's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad first three weeks in office. It turns out that when you have no idea what you're doing, it's easy for the pros to walk all over you, and that's precisely what's happened to the Trump regime so far.

Then we'll be joined by Erik Loomis, a labor historian at the University of Rhode Island, to discuss recent calls for a general strike, and Trump's attempt to drive a wedge into the American labor movement.

Next up is University of Georgia political scientist Cas Mudde, who explains why experts on authoritarian governments are sweating the Trump regime, and then lays out some signs of democratic deconsolidation to watch for in the years to come.

Finally, we'll speak to Ryan Devereaux from The Intercept, who reports that some of the most disturbing provisions of Trump's executive orders on immigration have largely flown under the radar as the media focused first on the wall, and then the hamfisted "Muslim ban."